


Blood-Red Eyes, Blood-Red Memories

by Yrindor



Series: The Cost of Genius [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Gen, Geniuses, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-24
Updated: 2015-07-24
Packaged: 2018-04-10 23:13:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4411592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yrindor/pseuds/Yrindor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At some point, Itachi realized that they cared about him only for his talents.  He was nothing but a pawn to them, but by the time he realized that, they had already taken everything from him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blood-Red Eyes, Blood-Red Memories

**Author's Note:**

> Set prior to Itachi’s battle with Sasuke.
> 
> All characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

They had called him a genius – praised him for it, promoted him, and called him their savior. He had been their treasure, but when the time came, they had paid him in blood – blood that had soaked his skin and clothes on that fateful night, blood that now flowed from his blood-red eyes, and blood that spilled again and again behind his closed eyelids. He had killed the life he had known, and what remained had been taken from him until all that was left was blood.

He who loathed violence and longed for peace had chosen a path drenched in blood. He chose his path with the promise of peace, but when that never came to pass, he realized he was nothing but a pawn in the larger power struggle of village politics. The village and the Uchiha had both wanted him for the same reason: to have a powerful tool they could use to assert their dominance, and once he had served their purpose, they discarded him as they would any other unnecessary or damaged tool. At some point he realized that to be their genius was to be not a person but a tool, valuable only for its utility toward an end. Unfortunately, he realized too late.

The one person who had wanted Itachi and not a genius was his little brother, and it was for Sasuke’s sake that he had made the choices he did. He had not acted for the Uchiha who called him a genius, or for the village that did the same, but for the little brother who called him “aniki” and wanted nothing more than for him to set aside the burdens of genius for a little while to play.

They had taken that from him as well. The same little brother who had waited excitedly for him to come home from school every day now hated and blamed him, and one day would finally come to kill him. He waited for that day, biding his time as his crows circled around him in anticipation. He had been raised a genius, and had fallen as one, but he would not die as one.

It had taken too long, but ultimately he had forgiven himself for the choices he had made and come to accept his true nature. He was not a genius but a brother. One who would forge his own path and who would, in the end, sacrifice himself to end the cycle of bloodshed that his genius had only perpetuated.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and feedback are welcome.


End file.
